“Is it always light in Finland in summer?” is the most commonly-asked question I hear all the time.

What happens in where I am (about 350km from Helsinki) in July is this:

yesterday evening the sun set at 11.20 pm (I took this photo 1 hour and 20 minutes later) and this morning the sun rose at 3.39 am.

When I arrived last Thursday, I stayed up late with my parents. My Mom had a swim in the lake before finally going to bed at 3 am, and yes, indeed, the sun had started to rise (lightness at that time was very similar to this photo). I haven’t lived in Finland for a such long time that I observe all this as a foreigner, too. And I can say it is fascinating and exotic!